Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Frontale's annual season launch show took place at Showa Academia Musicae's "Teatro del Giglio" on Sunday afternoon. And, while it's not exactly football, it does mean the waiting is almost over (J1 match schedule to be released on Feb 6th!).

The event is an opportunity for the club to introduce new players and staff to a packed auditorium of blue and black supporters. There's also a smattering of music, dancing and other light entertainment thrown in to dilute the mandatory speeches about doing one's best to win.

A drag performance by Yusuke Igawa appears to have been the highlight of the show. And, considering how underwhelming it's been on the transfer front, I very much hope the rest of the entertainment was up to scratch, too.

Along with the new personnel, a new slogan was unveiled - "One Step". Now, either Igawa's been promoting the idea of ballroom dancing or this is a reference to the steady progress the club's been making in recent years.

Can Frontale take that one final step in 2009 and claim their first piece of silverware?

Can't pretend to know much about any of these teams, but first impressions suggest it could have been worse. None of Frontale's opponents are overall champions of their respective leagues. And, although the trip to New South Wales will be a drain, Tianjin and Pohang are practically neighbours (relatively speaking).

Group H match schedule:

Game

Date

Opponent

Venue

1

11/03/2009(Wed.)

Tianjin Teda

Todoroki Stadium

2

18/03/2009(Wed.)

Pohang Steelers

Steelyard

3

8/04/2009(Wed.)

Central Coast Mariners

Blue Tongue Stadium

4

21/04/2009(Tue.)

Central Coast Mariners

Todoroki Stadium

5

5/05/2009(Tue.)

Tianjin Teda

Tianjin Teda Stadium

6

19/05/2009(Tue.)

Pohang Steelers

Todoroki Stadium

* In the A-League, whichever team tops the table at the end of the regular season wins the title of A-League Premiers. The top four teams then compete in a play-off series to decide the overall champion. Central Coast Mariners topped the table at the end of the regular season, but were runners-up in the play-off series to Newcastle Jets, who thereby became A-League Champions.